LABOUR’S John McDonnell has sparked fury after he branded Winston Churchill a “villain”.

The shadow chancellor made the comment in reference to the way Mr Churchill dealt with striking Welsh miners while home secretary in 1910. His remark has prompted outrage from Sir Nicholas Soames, the Conservative MP and grandson of Churchill, who labelled the Labour frontbencher “a third-rate, Poundland Lenin”, the Daily Telegraph reports. The wartime leader, who was later knighted, was voted the greatest Briton in a BBC poll in 2002.

He told the Daily Telegraph: “Frankly it’s a very foolish and stupid thing to say, surely said to gain publicity.

“I think my grandfather’s reputation can withstand a publicity-seeking assault from a third-rate, Poundland Lenin. I don’t think it will shake the world.”

Labour MP Ian Austin made it clear he disagreed with Mr McDonnell's comments by posting a picture on social media of a figurine of the wartime leader he keeps at home.

Mr Austin Tweeted: "Look who takes pride of place on my mantelpiece in Dudley: a real British hero, the greatest ever Briton, the man who motivated Britain to defeat the Nazis and fight not just for our liberty but the world's freedom too."